I'm sure Erik Prince has a phone that works
OpSec Lounge (Security, Privacy, etc.)
- Thread starter Valentine
- Start date
These devices had explosive material placed into them, it wasn't just the battery exploding. If this is in your threat model I'd instead look for phones you can easily dismantle and view all the components e.g. Fairphone, Librem, PinePhone.
If this is your threat model, you probably should go move to the nearest forest and forgo any technology whatsoever.
Has anyone ever gotten in trouble for, say, visiting sites like the Daily Stormer in countries like Germany? Would a VPN be enough to protect someone from that?
In Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and probably most other west European countries I would always use VPN for anything questionable or which challenges the narrative. While just visiting the sites is probably not illegal (so long as you're not reposting the links), better to be safe and assume Big Brother is always searching for "dangerous ideas". Your VPN should be a company outside the 5 Eyes and the EU, and the host server as well. Use double VPN for more protection, or just use TOR.
there are only two confirmed good ones:
Mullvad, and ProtonVPN
The other good ones are likely the github, single-dev based ones.
Yeah it's crazy how quick the technology has advanced. In 2023 the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses got released, which has it miniaturised to a normal sunglasses form factor:
Now this year Meta's Orion Augmented Reality glasses have been showcased with a slightly thicker frame, but now has a heads-up display and has increased the camera count from 2 to 7:
The future is going to be these cameras everywhere we go, which means that thanks to facial recognition technology it'll be possible to track every human's movements, and tagging spotted individuals with their real-life identity or at the very least a pseudonymous one. It's possible to avoid a large amount of tracking today if you wear a hat and don't carry a phone with you but in the near future you'd have to avoid people completely to evade this kind of location tracking. Arguably it's not worth worrying about though since location tracking is already ubiquitous thanks to cell tower triangulation. It does mean that this data is going to be in more people's hands however, and it's currently possible to avoid this tracking through with faraday bags for example.
The silver lining is that this is kinda cool. If we're going to live in a dystopia anyway, I appreciate every step that is made to at least make it a cool cyberpunk kind of dystopia with these types of gizmos.
Yeah I actually want to know what the glasses in the Chong Tweet are. Would like to try them.
The privacy guide said Nitrophone is a worthy grapheneOS de googled type. Has anyone tried or can anyone vouch for it?
Based_Christian_Dude
Catholic
You're better off just learning to install GrapheneOS yourself. Overpriced for what it is.
Which lowest level pixel phone would be the best to use?
I got an unlocked Pixel 3a off eBay a couple years ago and managed to get GraphenOS installed on it using online guides. Cost me $89. Used it to side-load a no-KYC / no-Play Store Bitcoin wallet. It was a fun challenge.
Yes, I think I'm going to do that. Are they then as good as anything these other guys would do, like Brax or this Nitro stuff? That is, do you get play store type apps and such on it?
Sorry, I don't have answers. My objective was just to get a de-Googled device onto which I could side-load a Bitcoin wallet. I power it on a few times a year to move BTC out of Bisq and then turn it back off. It sits in a drawer the other 360 days of the year.
I should probably just get a ColdCard, but so far this method/device does what I need.
Based_Christian_Dude
Catholic
Normally, I'd recommend the A series in the Pixel line (like Pixel 3A, Pixel 4A. Pixel 5A, etc.) as a cheap-priced Pixel phone, but Google's quality has severely gone down since switching to their own in-house SOC, technically the hardware of Pixels were always known to have QA issues but Qualcomm at least attempted to deliver decent support. They have been recalling batteries and neutering their phones due to the batteries catching on fire.
Warning: Google will soon nerf the Pixel 6a’s battery due to an overheating issue
If you have a Pixel 6a, be warned: You may need to replace the battery as Google is warning of a potential battery overheating issue.
www.androidauthority.com
After all the Pixel battery issues, I don't think I can keep recommending Google's phones
I used to swear by Google’s Pixel phones. But after swelling batteries, recalls, and rising risks, I’ve started to lose faith.
www.androidauthority.com
There's also a recent bad change to the Pixels and AOSP development: https://christisking.cc/threads/the-open-source-computing-thread.997/post-98929
I'd just wait until the dust settles, but if you need a new phone now, you could purchase a used Pixel 8 or 9.
GrapheneOS has gotten way easier to install now with the web installer. Bloody brilliant these folks are!
GrapheneOS web installer
Web-based installer for GrapheneOS, a security and privacy focused mobile OS with Android app compatibility.
Before you buy, check the GrapheneOS website and see what models are still supported. Certainly the 3a isn't supported any longer. I have a 4a loaded with CalyxOS and support stopped a couple of months ago. If you can afford it, I'd advise you to get an 8a so as to have a few years updates.